🪴 Shoyeb's Dev Diary

1. C-Sharp Version in a .NET Project

Thursday Mar 13, 2025

We can find the C# version used in a project:

Alternatively, we can find the .NET version in a project by opening the .csproj file.

A table summarizing the C# language versions associated with different versions of the .NET Framework and .NET Core/.NET (after .NET Core 3.1, it was unified into a single .NET platform):

VersionC# Language VersionRelease DateLTS/StandardEnd of Support Date
.NET Framework 1.0C# 1.0February 2002NoJuly 2009
.NET Framework 1.1C# 1.0April 2003NoJuly 2009
.NET Framework 2.0C# 2.0November 2005NoJuly 2013
.NET Framework 3.0C# 2.0November 2006NoJuly 2013
.NET Framework 3.5C# 3.0November 2007NoJuly 2013
.NET Framework 4.0C# 4.0April 2010NoJuly 2015
.NET Framework 4.5C# 5.0August 2012NoJanuary 2016
.NET Framework 4.5.1C# 5.0October 2013NoJanuary 2016
.NET Framework 4.5.2C# 5.0December 2014NoJanuary 2016
.NET Framework 4.6C# 6.0November 2015NoApril 2019
.NET Framework 4.6.1C# 6.0August 2016NoApril 2019
.NET Framework 4.6.2C# 7.0August 2016NoApril 2019
.NET Framework 4.7C# 7.0April 2017NoApril 2024
.NET Framework 4.7.1C# 7.1October 2017NoApril 2024
.NET Framework 4.7.2C# 7.3December 2018NoApril 2024
.NET Framework 4.8C# 8.0April 2019NoNovember 2028
.NET Core 1.0C# 6.0June 2016NoJune 2018
.NET Core 1.1C# 7.0November 2016NoJune 2018
.NET Core 2.0C# 7.0August 2017NoAugust 2019
.NET Core 2.1C# 7.3August 2018YesAugust 2021
.NET Core 2.2C# 7.3December 2018NoDecember 2020
.NET Core 3.0C# 8.0September 2019NoMarch 2020
.NET Core 3.1C# 8.0December 2019YesDecember 2022
.NET 5.0C# 8.0November 2020NoMay 2022
.NET 6.0C# 10.0November 2021YesMay 2024
.NET 7.0C# 11.0May 2022NoMay 2023
.NET 8.0C# 12.0November, 2023YesNovember, 2026
.NET 9.0C# 13.0November, 2024YesMay, 2026
.NET 10.0 (Upcoming)November 2025 (projected)
.NET 11.0 (Upcoming)November 2026 (projected)

An overview of the major features and enhancements introduced in each version of .NET and the corresponding C# languages:

.### .NET Framework

.NET Framework 1.0/1.1 (2002/2003)

  • Key Features:
    • Base Class Library (BCL): Collections, I/O, threading, etc.
    • ASP.NET: Web Forms for web development.
    • ADO.NET: Data access library.
    • WinForms: Desktop application development.
  • C# 1.0:
    • First version of the language.
    • Support for object-oriented programming (OOP).
    • Features: classes, inheritance, interfaces, delegates, and events.

.NET Framework 2.0 (2005)

  • Key Features:
    • Generics.
    • Nullable types.
    • Iterators (yield keyword).
    • ASP.NET 2.0: Master pages, themes, and data controls.
    • ADO.NET enhancements.
  • C# 2.0:
    • Generics.
    • Anonymous methods.
    • Iterators.
    • Nullable types.
    • partial classes.

.NET Framework 3.0 (2006)

  • Key Features:
    • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): UI framework for desktop apps.
    • Windows Communication Foundation (WCF): For service-oriented applications.
    • Windows Workflow Foundation (WF): Workflow automation.
    • Windows CardSpace: Identity management.
  • C# 2.0: No changes.

.NET Framework 3.5 (2007)

  • Key Features:
    • Language Integrated Query (LINQ).
    • ASP.NET AJAX.
    • ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF).
    • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) enhancements.
  • C# 3.0:
    • LINQ.
    • Lambda expressions.
    • Extension methods.
    • Anonymous types.
    • Automatic properties.
    • Object and collection initializers.

.NET Framework 4.0 (2010)

  • Key Features:
    • Parallel Computing (PLINQ, TPL).
    • Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR).
    • Improved Entity Framework.
    • MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework).
  • C# 4.0:
    • Dynamic types (dynamic keyword).
    • Named and optional parameters.
    • Covariance and contravariance for generics.

.NET Framework 4.5 (2012)

  • Key Features:
    • Async and await.
    • Enhanced EF (Entity Framework 5.0).
    • ASP.NET Web API.
  • C# 5.0:
    • async and await for asynchronous programming.
    • Caller information attributes (CallerMemberName, etc.).

.NET Core

.NET Core 1.0 (2016)

  • Key Features:
    • Cross-platform.
    • Modular and lightweight framework.
    • Command-line tooling.
    • ASP.NET Core 1.0.
  • C# 6.0: (Introduced with Visual Studio 2015)
    • Expression-bodied members.
    • Null-conditional operator (?.).
    • String interpolation.
    • Auto-property initializers.
    • nameof operator.
    • Exception filters.

.NET Core 2.0 (2017)

  • Key Features:
    • .NET Standard 2.0 compatibility.
    • ASP.NET Core Razor Pages.
    • Span<T> for high-performance memory access.
  • C# 7.0/7.1:
    • Tuples and deconstruction.
    • Local functions.
    • ref returns and locals.
    • Pattern matching (is, switch).
    • Default literal.
    • Async Main.

.NET Core 3.0 (2019)

  • Key Features:
    • Windows desktop app support (WinForms, WPF).
    • gRPC and JSON APIs.
    • C# 8.0 introduced.
  • C# 8.0:
    • Nullable reference types.
    • Async streams.
    • Indices and ranges.
    • Default interface methods.
    • Pattern matching enhancements.
    • Switch expressions.

.NET 5 (2020)

  • Key Features:
    • Unified platform (.NET Core + .NET Framework).
    • Single-file applications.
    • Improved performance.
    • C# 9.0 introduced.
  • C# 9.0:
    • Records.
    • Init-only properties.
    • Improved pattern matching (logical patterns).
    • Top-level programs.
    • Target-typed new.
    • Static anonymous functions.

.NET 6 (2021)

  • Key Features:
    • LTS release.
    • Minimal APIs for ASP.NET Core.
    • Improved hot reload.
    • Improved performance and diagnostics.
  • C# 10.0:
    • File-scoped namespaces.
    • Global using directives.
    • Record structs.
    • Interpolated string handlers.
    • Improved lambda syntax.

.NET 7 (2022)

  • Key Features:
    • .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI).
    • Performance improvements (Ahead-of-Time (AoT) compilation).
    • Improved cloud-native development.
  • C# 11.0:
    • Raw string literals.
    • List patterns.
    • Required members.
    • UTF-8 string literals.
    • File-local types.

.NET 8

  • Key Features:
    • Native AOT for more platforms.
    • Enhanced support for cloud and containerized environments.
    • .NET MAUI improvements.
  • C# 12.0 (Previewed):
    • Primary constructors for classes.
    • Expanded use of lambda expressions.

.NET 9

  • C# 13.0
  • Primary constructors for classes.
  • Expanded use of lambda expressions.
  • params collections
  • New lock type and semantics
  • New escape sequence - \e
  • Method group natural type improvements
  • Implicit indexer access in object initializers
  • Enable ref locals and unsafe contexts in iterators and async methods
  • Enable ref struct types to implement interfaces
  • Allow ref struct types as arguments for type parameters in generics.
  • Partial properties and indexers are now allowed in partial types.
  • Overload resolution priority allows library authors to designate one overload as better than others.